


Under the mistletoe

by traveler_of_heart



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Emma just wants to kiss Regina, F/F, Idiots in Love, Mistletoe, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:53:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22081363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/traveler_of_heart/pseuds/traveler_of_heart
Summary: Regina doesn't like mistletoe. Can Emma change her mind?
Relationships: Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan
Comments: 20
Kudos: 205





	Under the mistletoe

**Author's Note:**

  * For [butmaybeweare](https://archiveofourown.org/users/butmaybeweare/gifts).



> As always, this is for Ines.

“Jingle bells chime in jingle bells time…”

Emma hummed, opening the door to her parent’s apartment, her shoulder crashing against the door.

“Hello? Is anybody home? The door is jammed”

“It’s just the reindeer, sweetheart” Snow said, approaching and clearing the way for Emma.

“You have reindeer here?”

“Not the kind you’re thinking about” David said from the living room, working with some Christmas lights.

“Holy crap”

The blonde looked around. The Charming’s place was covered in boxes with all kinds of Christmas decorations.

“Did you save anything for the rest of Maine, Mom?” Emma walked around the boxes, taking a Menorah with her. “What’s this for?”

“The town”

“We’re going kosher?”

“No, I mean the Christmas decorations are for the town. That’s just for Archie”

“Mazel Tov”

“Have you seen Neal?” David said all of the sudden, putting the lights down.

“He was sleeping between the garland and the wreaths” Snow said as if it was the most natural thing to have their baby sleeping between holiday decoration, her eyes never leaving the stockings she was mending.

“Alright, Mr. and Mrs. Claus, you better explain yourselves”

“Regina finally let your mother be in charge of the town’s decorations this year” David said, crawling between the boxes looking for his son.

“Really?” Emma said, trying to keep her cool. There were thousands of scenarios with Snow going overboard with the task and Regina destroying everything. Fireballs would definitely be involved.

“She just made me promise to keep the mistletoe out of her way”

“Kind of hard when you consider we got two boxes of it…” David said, while digging behind the couch. “A-ha! There you are. Those are  _ not _ actual candy canes, little man”

Neal giggled, still sucking the plastic candy cane while his father carried him to his crib.

“So, did she tell you why she’s so against mistletoe?” Emma looked down, trying to seem nonchalant about it. Snow saw right through her.

“Sweetheart, I’m sure it has nothing to do with you” the woman finally looked away from her hands to focus on her daughter. “I guess she’s just not used to being included in some town stuff”

“Or maybe she doesn’t want to end up under the mistletoe with Leroy” David chimed in. Snow nodded, shuddering at the memory of Ruby last year.

Poor girl.

“Yeah, totally, I get it” Emma looked down, trying to ignore the weight she suddenly felt in her stomach. Their relationship was still very much new (even if Emma had been attracted to Regina since the very time she saw the brunette) and while she wasn’t expecting public displays of affection, it was easy for her own insecurities to crawl back at the thought of Regina feeling embarrassed about being seen with the blonde.

“Emma, don’t read into this, I’m sure she just doesn’t want to have an awkward moment with anyone in town”

“You’re right” the blonde finally straightened her back. “So, since I know her routine and the places she always goes to, why don’t I deal with the mistletoe while you guys turn the rest of the town into Christmas Land”

“Oh, that would be great! Thank you” Snow said, her voice following Emma as she picked up the boxes and walked out the front door.

She needed a map for Operation Mistletoe.   
  


*

“What are we looking at here?” Ruby opened the door to Emma’s office. The blonde had ordered her usual grilled cheese and it was the perfect excuse Ruby needed to get out of Granny’s for a little while.

Emma was so focused on the map of the town that she barely acknowledged her friend’s presence. She had placed pins on strategic locations, while writing down dates and times on a notepad.

“Fry for your thoughts?” Ruby offered, peeking over her shoulder.

“Hey, those are my fries!” Emma finally snapped when she realized Ruby was eating them.

“Considered this my fee for bringing your food all the way to the station”

“It’s a five minute walk”

“But it’s cold” Ruby said and Emma gave up with a roll of her eyes. “Now tell me, what you working on?”

“My mom bought two boxes of mistletoe for the town...”

“I’m gonna fucking kill her” Ruby snapped, ready to walk out the door and turn into a wolf.

“Wait, stop! Ruby” Emma reached for her arm and pulled her back. “Regina asked her to put it out of her way so I’m trying to figure out where would that be”

“Oh. Wait, I thought you guys were together?”

“We are”

“So, what is it? Are you a bad kisser?”

“No. I don’t think so”

“Well, maybe she just said that because she was worried she’d end up under it with Leroy. Trust me, no one wants that, I should know” Ruby said with a dramatic sigh and bumped her shoulder against the blonde’s. “Don’t read too much into it. And eat before your lunch gets cold”

“Yes, mom” Emma said in a mocking tone while Ruby stepped out of her office.

“And Emma?” the brunette turned around with a menacing glare. “Do not put any mistletoe around Granny’s”

“I won’t. But I demand extra fries for the next month”

“Deal”

*

Operation Mistletoe took more time than Emma had expected, even when she decided to take a shortcut (meaning, she threw most of it away). She hung some of it at the ice cream parlor, where Regina would never go without Henry or her, the library, the Rabbit Hole just to give drunk people an excuse to go to town on each other and of course, outside of Gold’s shop, because it was always fun to annoy the bastard.

That was the easy part. The rest of the operation would probably take most of her day.

It started at the break of dawn, with Emma dragging her ass out of bed at 7 am just to make sure she found Regina at home. Sure enough, she could hear the woman rummaging in the kitchen, shouting for Henry to get up before they were both late. The blonde took advantage of the noise to hop on a stool that was by the door and began to tie a little sprig of mistletoe just above the entrance.

“And if I find it, what do you get?” she heard Regina say, opening the door and pushing Emma. The blonde yelped as she lost her balance, landing on her ass. “Emma! What on Earth are you doing here? And what’s that stool for?”

“Uh… I’ll explain later. Help me up?”

Regina rolled her eyes and held her hand. Emma took it and stood up with one swift motion, pushing her body against the brunette’s.

“Hi” she said with a mischievous grin. “You may want to look up”

“What are you…?” Regina said, stopping mid sentence when she spotted the mistletoe. “I specifically told your mother…”

“Uh-hu” Emma nodded, crashing her lips against hers. Regina sighed and pulled Emma closer, her hands traveling to the blonde’s lower back to keep their bodies pressed together. 

“Found it… oh, man!” Henry came barreling through the door, gagging as soon as he saw his mothers kissing. “It’s too early for this”

“It’s never too early for this” Emma said against Regina’s lips, smiling. She reached and pulled the mistletoe down, removing one of the white berries.

“See you later”, see said, now planting a chaste kiss on Regina’s cheek and leaving the white berry safe in her hand. The brunette realised it was actually a paper roll and she examined it, curiosity getting the best of her. 

There, in Emma’s messy handwriting (though Regina could tell, she had done her best to keep it readable), was a simple message:

_ I love your beautiful smile. _

She blushed, but when she looked up, Emma was gone.

*

_ Mom was smiling the whole drive to school. I’m surprised we didn’t hit a mailbox. _

**Inch resting**

Emma put her phone down, knowing how much her son hated when she used certain phrases she had picked up from the internet. So what? She could be hip and modern. She was the cool mom.

_ I cannot believe you insist on saying that _

She was about to reply to her son with “That’s on what” but then she spotted Regina walking down to Granny’s at exactly 9:15. Perfect. 

She left the cruiser and walked around the corner, running right into Archie.

“Crap… I mean, hi there”

“Hi, Sheriff. How are you doing today?”

“Good, good. And you?” she said without paying attention, focused on Regina. She was almost at the door of Granny’s. Damn it.

“Great, just taking out Pongo for a walk”

“That’s awesome! Why don’t I take him and you can go away? Thanks, Archie” she snatched the leash from his hands and pulled the dog with her. It didn’t take much effort because once Pongo spotted Regina, he went nuts, whining and dragging Emma to catch the brunette.

“What are you doing with Pongo?” Regina said as soon as she spotted them walking around the corner. The dog went wild when he heard his name and the brunette had no other choice but to pet him.

“Just walking around the town, dog sitting”

“Aren’t you supposed to be at the station”

“Maaaybe”

“Well, I have to be back at…” Regina gasped when Pongo went around both of them, tangling their legs on his leash and pulling them closer together. “For God’s sake, Emma, control this dog or…”

“Oh, would you look at that” Emma ignored the woman’s protests, placing a finger under her chin to force her to look up.

“Mistletoe, again?”

“Yeap” she leaned forward and this time, Regina was the one that closed the distance between them, her lips moving softly against Emma’s.

“I don’t know what you are up to, Miss Swan, but you are not getting away with it that easily” Regina threatened. However, it was hard for Emma to feel anything other than aroused, her body flushed against Regina’s, their lips inches apart.

“Two mind blowing kisses in one morning, I’d say I’m already winning” she said, taking the mistletoe down and giving Regina another paper berry.

“See you in a couple of hours”

“Would you at least give me a ten minute warning?”

“Nope” Emma said without looking back, Pongo already pulling her away like a maniac.

Regina moved her head and smiled, reading the note Emma had left behind.

_ I love waking up next to you. _  
  


*

Of course Sidney Glass would ruin her plans.

“Are you sure you can’t just tell her there is an emergency so he can be gone?” Emma asked for the tenth time, pacing around the room while she waited for Regina.

“I’m sorry, Sheriff. But she’ll be mad if I do. I’m sure Sidney is almost done”

“Right, right… Ok, so I’ll just go to the bathroom. Be right back”

Of course, she pulled out her phone and called Sidney three times before he finally answered.

“Hi, Sidney, this is Sheriff Swan. Listen, we just received a report that your house is on fire, so you might wanna get here as soon as you can. Ok, bye”

She peeked around the wall to see the man running out of her girlfriend’s office, while Regina stood by the door, looking up and raising an eyebrow once she saw the mistletoe. The blonde threw a fist in the air in silent victory… until she heard her mother’s voice.

“What the fuck?” she actually considered burning down her mother’s apartment just to get her away this time. Emma looked at the clock and then at the door… she was gonna have to do this or she’d be late for the next phase.

“So I was thinking that next year we could get a bigger Santa for the clock tower…” 

“Emma” Regina said as the blonde approached them. This time she knew what was coming and smirked, ready to scar Snow for the rest of her life.

Emma tried to keep the kiss short, but then Regina ran her tongue across her lip and she had to grant her access and before she knew it she was being pushed against the door…

Snow was gone by the time she opened her eyes. Regina handed her the mistletoe, one of her fingers fixing her smeared lipstick.

“See you later?”

“Yeah” Emma nodded, still breathless. She walked away and then came back, handing another small note to Regina. “You’re lucky my mother didn’t faint”

“I guess I’ll have to try harder next time”

Emma rolled her eyes and left. She missed the small smile Regina had when she read the third note.

_ I love the way you say my name (and “my love”, more of that, please) _

*

Emma had to improvise a little the fourth time. And hey, perhaps the grocery store wasn’t the best place to do this, but she had to adapt. So here she was, hanging a mistletoe in the middle of aisle seven, and lurking around the store waiting for Regina to arrive.

She was by the dairy when she heard the clerk greet the mayor and she walked behind the shelves, waiting for the woman to stop right by the spices. She was halfway there when Granny appeared and called her name.

“Regina, have you ever cooked paella?”

“I have, actually”

“Would you mind helping me pick between these two?”

“Well, I would recommend this one if you’re thinking of cooking a lot of it, but you could buy this one and use it for other stuff like meatloaf”

“But what if…?”

“Excuse me” Emma said and before Regina could utter another word, Emma kissed her gently, not wanting to startle the brunette.

“The supermarket? Really? Where we buy our food?” Granny chastised them and for the first time, Regina blushed at being caught.

“Sorry, next time we’ll do it on an alley like all the other kids” Emma said, pulling down the string and handing Regina the entire sprig with only one little note left. “See you tomorrow for dinner”

“Screw paella, I’m cooking lasagna” Granny mumbled.

Regina barely registered the woman as she unfolded the piece of paper.

_ I love that you feel like home. _

*

The rest of Regina’s day went by without any more surprises. She found herself a little disappointed. In spite of her best attempts at hiding it, she was always amused with Emma’s jokes and childish demeanor. It was endearing… and it made her happy.

She never thought she’d feel that way again. As she was going up the stairs of 108 Mifflin street with her briefcase and shopping bags, she heard a muffled shriek and some cursing. 

Emma again.

“Do I even want to know?” 

“Yes, but in five minutes, please”

“Fine”

She went inside to place the groceries on the fridge and then walked to where Emma was working, next to her apple tree.

“Wait, I need to turn it on!” Emma said, walking around and plugging some Christmas lights. “So! What do you think?”

“What is this?” Regina said, stepping outside to admire it up close. Her apple tree, barren during winter, was full of green and white, thanks to the mistletoe that Emma had tied around the branches. She completed the look with some beautiful Christmas lights.

“It’s a mistletoe tree full of all the things I love about you”

Regina’s smile softened.

"Emma", she whispered lovingly and she walked towards the blonde, entwining their fingers.  “You didn’t have to do this”

“I just wanted you to enjoy a tradition… feel like you have someone to share the holiday spirit with. Other than Henry, I mean”

Regina inched closer, kissing Emma with less urgency and pouring all of her gratitude and love in the kiss. They reluctantly pulled apart.

“So… if a sprig of mistletoe means you get a kiss, what do you get with a tree?”

“A lot of kisses?” Emma said, blushing when Regina pulled her closer by the belt loop.

“Lucky, Miss Swan” she said against Emma’s lips and winked playfully. “You get lucky”.


End file.
